Sportsmen Step up Engagement in BLM Plan for Central Montana

BLM solicits public input on resource management plan for public lands important to fish and game populations, prized by sportsmen

The Bureau of Land Management’s announcement today that the agency will begin work on a new resource management plan for more than 750,000 acres of prime fish and wildlife habitat in central Montana elicited positive responses from sportsmen, who affirmed their commitment to ensuring that these valuable public lands and the outdoor opportunities they provide will be sustained in a revised RMP.

Areas subject to the new plan are managed by BLM field offices in Lewistown and Butte, Mont., and stretch from Ear Mountain on the Rocky Mountain Front and across the Missouri Breaks to the Musselshell River, encompassing a vast expanse of lands in eight counties. Today’s announcement initiates a 60-day scoping period that will include several meetings open to the public in central Montana.

“Generations of Montanans and visitors from across the nation and the world have hunted these lands, chasing sharptails and trophy mule deer on the Front, antelope on the plains and bugling elk in the Breaks,” said TRCP Field Representative Hal Herring. “The new resource management plan will guide the decisions of land managers on this incredibly diverse mix of mountains, prairies and rivers for the next 20 years.”

Herring, based in Augusta, Mont., continued, “The TRCP looks forward to working with federal land managers, hunters and fishermen, biologists and all interested parties to help shape a plan that will ensure that our heritage of hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation will be enjoyed on these public lands for generations to come.”